A federal inmate found guilty by a jury of conspiring to sell methamphetamine is appealing his verdict.
Stanley Schily Sr. says the trial judge should have acquitted him for lack of evidence. But a federal prosecutor says Schily had meth, baggies, and written sales records in his house, and he confessed to detectives.
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on Wednesday, May 11, in St. Paul.
Defense attorney Tom Cogley represented Stanley Schily Sr. at oral arguments before the Eighth Circuit. He told appellate judges that the government did not prove that his client conspired to sell meth, and that the judge during trial should have granted the defense motion to dismiss for lack of evidence.
Cogley admitted that a search of Schily’s Mobridge residence turned up a handwritten list of people and the dollar amount of drug transactions, but he said it wasn’t identified as belonging to Schily. He also said the feds didn’t establish that the note documented drug sales in the timeframe charged in the indictment.
Judge Michael Melloy cut in with a question.
“Let’s talk about what I…would call naming the elephant in the living room. What about the confession?” he asked.
Cogley replied that the detectives used coercive tactics that wore his client down.
“There’s a difference between a defendant confessing to a crime, and a law enforcement officer asking him questions like ‘You were getting an ounce a week or more, right?’ Him saying, ‘No,’ and the officer saying… or getting upset with him for lying,” he said.
Cogley said there’s proof that Schily committed the crime of buying meth for his personal use but not that he participated in a conspiracy to sell it.
The U.S. Attorney for South Dakota is represented by Appellate Division Chief Kevin Koliner. He said Schily’s interview with detectives was cordial, and that at a certain point Schily offered to make coffee.
“And ultimately, by the end of the interview, he’s admitting that he works with a person named Knutson, they get methamphetamines from someone named Jay, they each take a cut, it sounds. And then he fronts methamphetamines. He talks about middling drugs.”
Koliner said fronting drugs is an indicator of selling, as is the large quantity of meth involved.
Judges will deliberate and issue an opinion later.
